1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automobile drip molding for preventing rainwater flowing from the front window (windshield) or roof towards the side window during running and interfering with the lateral field of view of the driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 11, a drip molding comprises a window guard section 1 and a roof guard section 2, the window guard section 1 being mounted in the region where the vehicle body side panel 3 joins the front window W and the roof guard section 2 being mounted in the region where the side panel 3 joins the roof R, respectively, so as to prevent water from flowing out from the regions of these two junctions towards the side window and thereby safeguard the lateral field of view of the driver.
It should be noted that the window guard section 1 and the roof guard section 2 could be integrally formed in a linked fashion or could be separately formed and linked by a joint.
However, with conventional drip moldings, there were the following problems in achieving the desired object of preventing water from overflowing (water-damming action).
I. Problems Regarding the Sealing Properties of the Sealing Lip Section
As shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 14, the drip molding is constituted by covering a core member 4 made of metallic sheet material formed by a roll forming method with a covering member R made of plastics or rubber by extrusion molding.
Also, over the entire length of the molding, there are respectively formed a first lip section 6 by one side portion in the width direction of the covering member 5 extending downwards and a second lip section 7 by an opposite side portion extending laterally; as shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the first lip section 6 performs a sealing action by contacting the surface of the front window W in the case of the window guard section 1 and as shown in FIG. 14 by contacting the roof 5 in the case of the roof guard section 2, respectively.
FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the intermediate section in the longitudinal direction of the window guard section 1 and FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the rear end thereof (portion that joins the roof guard section 2).
The second lip section 7 performs a sealing action by contacting the side panel 3 in the case of both the window guard section 1 and the roof guard section 2.
As shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 14, the cross-sectional shape of the side panel 3 is different in the case of both contacting portions, the height dimension of this panel 3 facing the window-contacting portions (FIG. 12, FIG. 13) being greater than the height dimension of the roof-contacting portions (FIG. 14), so that the dimensions of the steps A, B between the window W or roof R and the side panel 3 are different.
Consequently, the cross-sectional shape of the molding corresponding to the difference of these step dimensions A, B i.e. the amount of protrusion C downwards of the first lip section 6 must be made larger in the case of the window guard section 1 and smaller in the case of the roof guard section 2.
As a measure for dealing with this, although not shown, the means may be adopted of making the two sections 1 and 2 of separate members of different cross-sectional shape and connecting these by a joint. However, this divided type of construction suffered from the difficulty that external appearance was adversely affected by the appearance of a joining portion of the two members.
Usually, therefore, the method is adopted of forming the amount of protrusion C of the first lip section 6 to be larger in the case of the window guard section 1 and smaller in the case of the roof guard section 2, by integrally forming the two sections 1 and 2 in continuous manner and filling up this difference between the step dimensions A, B by processing during or after molding.
If this is done, the amount of protrusion C of the first lip section 6 in the case of the window guard section 1 must be made smaller in the case of the rear end that joins the roof guard section 2, matching the change of the step dimensions A and B. Usually, this is accomplished by a gradual diminution from the front end to the rear end of the protrusion amount C in the case of this window guard section 1.
With such a conventional integral molding construction, the amount of protrusion C of the first lip section 6 (=molding height dimension) is smaller at the rear end of the window guard section 1, as described above, so, if a large quantity of water is forced into this portion by the action of the wiper or other causes, as shown by the double-lined arrow in FIG. 13, the water tends to overflow the molding and flow onto the front section of the side window. That is, conventionally, the water-damming action is poor, leading to the problem of obstruction of the lateral field of view of the driver.
It should be noted that, although the amount of protrusion C of the first lip section is also small in the case of the roof guard section 2, this is not subjected to the forcible ingress of a large quantity of water by wiper action such as at the rear end of the window guard section and, even if the water does overflow, this overflow occurs further to the rear than the intermediate section of the side window i.e. outside the lateral field of view of the driver, so scarcely any problem is caused.
II. Impairment of the Water-Damming Action Due to Mis-Positioning of the Molding
Apart from dealing with water as described above, the drip molding also has the function of an ornamental cover maintaining an attractive appearance by hiding gaps or grooves of the connecting portions described above.
The drip molding is therefore mounted on these connecting portions after assembly of the side panel 3, front window W and roof R.
Also, this molding is mounted in releasable fashion at a plurality of locations indicated by the square symbol in FIG. 15 in respect of both the guard sections 1 and 2 and the aforesaid connecting portions, so as to facilitate replacement in the event of damage or for other reasons.
A conventional mounting construction is illustrated in FIG. 16 to FIG. 18.
FIG. 16 shows the mounting portion at the front end of the window guard section 1; FIG. 17 shows the mounting portion at a plurality of locations other than the front end of the window guard section 1; and FIG. 18 shows the mounting portion at a plurality of locations of the roof guard section 2, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 16, a front end mounting element 8 is mounted at the front end of the window guard section 1 and the front end of the window guard section is mounted by pushing a projection 9 of this front end mounting element 8 into an engagement hole 10 of the side panel 3.
Portions other than the front end of the window guard section 1 are mounted by front mounting elements 11 being mounted as shown in FIG. 17 at a plurality of locations other than the front end of the window guard section 1 and projections 12 provided on these mounting elements 11 being fitted into front receiving elements 13 of U-shaped cross-section fixed to the side panel 3.
The roof guard section 2 is mounted by rear mounting elements 14 being mounted as shown in FIG. 18 at a plurality of locations of the roof guard section 2 and projecting tabs 15 provided on these mounting elements 14 being fitted onto rear receiving elements 16 fixed to the side panel 3.
The mounting elements 8, 11, 14 and receiving elements 13, 16 are formed of plastics and the molding mounting force is obtained by means of resilient engagement or fitting of these elements.
Conventionally, a construction is adopted in which, as shown in the drawings, all of the projections 9 or the projecting tabs 12, 15 of the mounting elements 8, 11, 14 project downwards and are fitted in the downwards direction from above with respect to engagement holes 10 or receiving elements 13, 16 of the side panel i.e. an arrangement is adopted in which all parts of the molding are attached into position from above in the downwards direction at all the mounting locations.
However, with this conventional molding mounting construction in which the direction of attachment of the molding was the same at all locations (downwards from above), if, during use, upwardly directed external force caused the molding to become detached at one location, the external force could propagate to other portions, resulting in the molding easily becoming detached over a wide range (in the worst case, the entire molding), giving rise to the problem that the principal function of the molding to prevent the water invasion can no longer be achieved.